Thanksgiving 2020 weather and holiday history

Thanksgiving 2020 is upon us. As I do each year, I'd like to take a look at the weather this year, back to when I started blogging for AccuWeather in 2005. Here's this year's weather map:

It's a little deceiving because a lot of the rain in the East took place this morning. Now, as people are sitting down to dinner, most of the U.S. is precipitation free (this weather map is from about 2 PM):

Combined with above-normal temperatures, outside get-togethers and Thanksgiving dinners with the windows open, which are all but required due to COVID, are possible in many areas. Here's what the forecast high temperatures today were forecast to be:

All in all, not a very stormy year, although recent storms like the EF-2 tornado in Dallas Tuesday night and upcoming storms like the first big winter storm of the year expected late this weekend are dominating weather headlines. One holiday-related story: Hail storms, extreme temperatures, and drought caused a cranberry shortage this year.

Snow-wise, about 16% of the U.S. is covered with snow this year, closer to the 10-year average than the highest year (2010) or lowest year (2012).

You can view past Thanksgiving weather from 2005 to 2019 in the links below, followed by a report on the weather this year in Central Pennsylvania.

Central Pennsylvania Thanksgiving Roundup:

Here in Central Pennsylvania this year, it was rather warm -- in fact York, PA, where we usually go (and would have this year if not for isolating due to COVID-19) experienced their second-warmest Thanksgiving afternoon since 2005.

They tied the record high temperature at 3 PM of 64 degrees and the record high minimum of 43, which would have been a record broken if the temperature hadn't plummeted into the 30s in the late evening. Otherwise, in York, it was cloudy and a bit windy.

Here are shots of my backyard in State College, PA, from my webcam since 2014:

The afternoon temperatures in York, however, were a full 10 degrees higher than here in State College... it was decent but chilly outside.

We didn't have that late-night chill that York did, so we set a new warm low temperature record for the period. In fact, it's quite unusual to have a minimum in the 40s here in November, and it had only happened once before, in 2015.

These Instagram photos show photos I've taken on or around Thanksgiving since 2013:

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